Football title to be decided on Saturday

TAUNTON — Before the season started, people talked about this upcoming Saturday's game between the football teams from Somerset Berkley Regional High School and Bishop Feehan at Hanson Memorial Field.

With that being the last league game for Somerset Berkley, that was where the Eastern Athletic Conference could be decided if both teams took care of business in their other league games against Bishop Stang, Martha's Vineyard and Coyle Cassidy.

With Somerset Berkley's 42-13 win over Coyle Cassidy last Friday night, that is the position the Blue Raiders have put themselves in with one game on the line to win the EAC and qualify for the state playoffs for the second time in three years.

"It's safe to say we're going to have to play our best football game of the year," SB coach Nick Freitas said.

The game on Saturday will start at 1 p.m. at Somerset Berkley. Bishop Feehan will have one league game left after playing the Blue Raiders. The Shamrocks will play Bishop Stang on Thanksgiving, while Somerset Berkley will play a non-league game against Case. If the Blue Raiders win, they will clinch first place in the EAC.

While his team may have won a lopsided game over the weekend, Freitas said the Blue Raiders will not be able to have the holding penalties and mental mistakes they had against Coyle against Bishop Feehan if they want to win the league title on Saturday afternoon.

"We've got to clean the laundry for this game," Freitas said. "Feehan is a good team."

Most likely, Feehan will be the toughest test the Blue Raiders have faced this season. They have coasted against every other EAC team.

Against Coyle last Friday, it was Somerset Berkley's explosive running attack and defense in the red zone that was the difference in the game.

On their first drive of the game, the Warriors got down to the Somerset Berkley 19-yard line and threatened to score first in the game. But the Blue Raiders held on defense and when they got the ball back, it did not take them long to score as running back Mike Garrant raced 71 yards for a touchdown with seven minutes and 17 seconds left in the first quarter. Place kicker T.J. Eisele booted the extra point to give the Blue Raiders a 7-0 lead.

On the first play of the next drive for Somerset Berkley, running back Garrett Carlos carried the ball to the left and then made a quick cut back move to the right to evade a Coyle player and ran all the way to the end zone from 52 yards out, and just like that, it was 14-0 after Eisele hit the extra point with five minutes and eight seconds left in the first quarter.

As quick as Somerset Berkley was scoring, Coyle still had a chance to get back into the game when the Warriors drove the ball down to the Blue Raider 14-yard line. But the Somerset Berkley defense held again as Coyle came up empty, giving the Blue Raider offense a chance to really put some distance between the two teams on the scoreboard. And that is what happened as Garrant carried the ball 48 yards for a touchdown with two minutes and 28 seconds left in the half. An Eisele point after touchdown kick made the score 21-0.

The Warriors went three and out on their next drive which gave the Blue Raiders just enough time left to score a touchdown before the break. It only took Somerset Berkley about a minute and a half to drive the ball 51 yards, with Garrant jumping over the pile and reaching out to get the ball in his hand over the goal line with no time left on the clock for another touchdown. Eisele kicked his fourth extra point of the half to give the Blue Raiders a 28-0 lead at the break.

The Blue Raiders went right back to work as they received the ball to start the second half and by the end of the third quarter, the bench was going in as the game, for all intents and purposes, was over.

Garrant carried the opening kickoff 35 yards to the Coyle 47-yard line. Quarterback Jack Amarantes finished the drive with a three-yard touchdown run with four minutes and 36 seconds left in the third quarter. Eisele kicked another extra point as the Blue Raiders took a 35-0 lead. During the drive, after a holding penalty on the Blue Raiders, Amarantes connected with Carlos on a 30-yard pass play and Garrant had a 22 yard run to set up the touchdown.

That was the last score that Freitas would keep the starters in for. On Coyle's next possession, the Warriors coughed the ball up and Somerest Berkley's Danny Matanes recovered the ball at Coyle's 36-yard line. That gave the second string offense a chance to score and that unit also came up with a big play as running back Chip Wood scampered 36 yards for the touchdown as soon as the Blue Raiders took over. Eisele's last extra point of the night made the score 42-0.

Coyle got a couple of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter after the game had long been over.

The win improved Somerset Berkley's record to 9-0, overall, and 3-0 in the EAC with the one league game left to play against Bishop Feehan on Saturday. During the post game huddle on the field at Coyle, Freitas told the team that this was "championship week" at practice and wanted them to be very focused on the game coming up on Saturday.

The Blue Raiders have been in this position several times in the past 10 years as Feehan is always the last league game on the schedule. Many of the players from this year's team know what that is like as they were in the same position last year when they went to Attleboro and lost. But the Blue Raiders are a much improved team this season.